Wednesday, June 8, 2011

A Setting for Graduation

Hosting two graduation parties in the same week can be quite exhausting.  For graduation party #1, I hosted, but had help from four other families who contributed toward expenses and labor.  This party was mainly for the friends of #2 child who will graduate from high school this Friday.  We had around 30 kids and maybe 20 or so adults and perfect weather!
The boys helped set up tables, chairs, ran errands, and basically did whatever I asked them to do.  They were a huge help!  School colors are blue and gold, so our color scheme was blue and yellow.  I found these lovely runners online.

Most of the flowers came from the yard.  I needed yellow, so I went to the grocery store, but all the cut flowers were more than I wanted to spend, so I purchased two daisy mum plants, which had lots of blooms, cut them off and used them in the little yellow and blue pots, which I found at Garden Ridge.  Martini glasses hold floating candles, and are tied with blue and yellow ribbon.

The kids enjoyed the pool, and then chowed down on turkey bbq, slaw, baked beans, vegetables and dip, watermelon, chips, and chocolate chip cookies.  Punch consisted of Sprite and pineapple juice--very refreshing drink for the summer.

Adults chat and enjoy 21 juice.

The cake had the boys' picture and was purchased at Sam's Club.

On to graduation party #2, a family party, around 40 people.

Same tables and chairs, cloths, and runners (after washing and ironing).  This time we used the "good" stuff, and the food was catered.  Unfortunately, no one was available to help.

The main table seated 24, and was set up with a basic white plate, and green Bordallo Pinheira cabbage salad plates.  I used my silverplate, a yellow napkin, and iced beverage glasses, Chelsea by Godinger.
Instead of balloons, I used a large arrangement of flowers from the yard.  This was removed before we were seated for dinner.


A table for 8 was set up under the tent near the outdoor kitchen.  Here I used a Haviland Limoge white plate, a yellow salad plate, and yellow napkin.  Same table runner and cloth.


Ok, so that was seating for 32.  I still needed 8 more place settings, so I used the round tables.


Salad plates are a little different, and I used a yellow "flower" placemat.
I displayed pictures, and my son's graduation hat.  Since it was also my daughter's graduation from college, I also displayed her picture (later she added her hat as well!)

Andrew prepares the beverages.  I didn't get a picture of the buffet table.  Here is what we had catered:  Hors d'oeuvres consisted of meatballs, mushrooms stuffed with crab, vegetables and dip, cheese and fruit, and mozzarella strudel.  We began dinner with a garden salad and raspberry pecan vinaigrette and a selection of croissants and rolls.  We had chilled grilled asparagus with grilled red pepper, roasted potatoes, sliced beef tenderloin with horseradish and honey mustard, breast of lemon chicken with lemon caper wine sauce, poached salmon with capers, mustard and chopped onions.  Dessert was cake, brownies, and homemade cookies.  It was all very delicious!


We had a great time!  It was fun to see all our family, who all live within an hour from our home!

Thanks for stopping by!  Next week we are headed to the beach for a much needed break.  As always, I appreciate your comments, as I strive for A Perfect Setting!!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Storage Woes!

Where do we store it?  That's the question of the day... no matter where, it's never enough!!  If you must see, I will show you, though it's not pretty.
Kitchen cabinet~

Another kitchen cabinet...



Kitchen cabinet...

And another kitchen cabinet...

Obvious place--china cabinet!

Wine cabinet holds some stems...

Cabinet above wet bar...

Utility room cabinet...

Christmas items stored in utility room cabinet.

Utility room cabinet, made a bit of space for a set of dishes!!

Corner cupboard in guest bedroom--top holds crystal...

Bottom holds china.

Cabinets in garage hold more dishes...

Same cabinet, couldn't get it all in the picture!

Cabinet in garage holds accessories and some dishes...

This cabinet holds dishes and lots of globes.

Same cabinet, lower angle...

Glassware in garage cabinet.

And yet another garage cabinet holds glassware.

Drawers in garage hold napkin rings and placecard holders.  There also might be a candleholder or two in there!

Another drawer.

I still have some items in boxes.

Foyer coat closet holds some runners, tablecloths, and accessories in bottom.

Second coat closet in foyer.

In summary, I could use a professional organizer!  What I didn't show you was the sideboard storage, server storage, tablecloths and placemats, as well as more candles and accessories.  I'll save that for another time.  The good news is I am having a large hall closet equipped with shelves and converting it into storage for my finer china.  The temperature fluctuations in the garage can't be good for it, although I'm sure many a set of vintage china was found in grandma's attic.  I will show you the progress on that as it happens.  Thanks to the Tablescaper for hosting this fun party!!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

A Simple Setting

Thanks again to all who entered my giveaway.  I appreciate all your kind comments, and if you didn't hear back from me, I apologize, I did try!  Hopefully Blogger has fixed whatever problem they were having.  It has been a busy week for me, I am trying to get ready for child #2's graduation.  We have a party for the kids this Friday evening, and a family dinner party on the 7th.  So this week it is a simple table out by the pool, nothing fancy, but I hope you like it.

These cheerful placemats were a recent Tuesday Morning purchase.  The deep color of the flower was a bit harder to work with than I thought.  It wasn't red, or pink exactly.   The lighter color pink did go pretty well with these pink Bordallo Pinheiro plates and bowls.

The white chargers really aren't chargers, but platters from Ross.

White dinner plate was purchased at TJ Maxx.

Wine stems are etched, but I can't remember where they came from!

White rhododendrums from the yard ...

Tall white candleholder from HomeGoods...
 
with a tall candle to hide the umbrella pole!

Silverware is William Rogers, I believe, and was purchased a while back from Ebay.

Rhododendrums have since gone for another year, (sigh).

Bird's eye view

A few pictures by candlelight...



One more...

Thanks for stopping by!  I always appreciate your comments.  Have a great weekend!